


born in a flash

by momitchi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ficlet, Mention of Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-14 17:16:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7182116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momitchi/pseuds/momitchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teddy Remus Lupin hates his name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	born in a flash

He hates his name.  
  
He was named after his grandfather, the one who died before he was born. He has his grandfather's name, and his father's. Teddy Remus Lupin. He even inherited his mother's ability to change appearance at will. Everything he has is a hand-me-down, and he hates it.  
  
Sometimes Gran will call him Ted--not Teddy, just Ted--on accident, and her eyes glaze over with a faraway look, and she'll spend the rest of the night going through old scrapbooks, watching silent laughs on long-gone faces. When his hair turns blond, she'll purse her lips, and won't meet his eyes. He knows why--he reminds her of him, her husband, the one she lost so long ago.  
  
He looks in the mirror sometimes, and makes his hair light brown. He tries to construct the features of the man in the pictures, the one everyone calls _your father_ , or _Professor Lupin_ , or _Remus_. He uses those names for him, too, never _Dad_.  
  
No matter how hard he tries, he can't get it quite right.  
  
One day, he gets invited to dinner at the Potters'. He entertains everyone by stretching his mouth into a duck bill, a trick he's been working on for weeks. Harry laughs and tells him how _Tonks did that too, the night I first met her_ , and _her hair was pink then, too, just like yours_. Teddy finishes his meal in silence after that.  
  
Harry hands him a piece of parchment one day, and taps it with his wand. _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_. He shows him how to use it, points out the Marauders' names. "Moony, your dad--Padfoot, my godfather, and Prongs, my dad--they were all best mates. This belonged to them."  
  
Teddy pretends to be excited, grateful--and he is, really, the map is useful--but he sighs when Harry isn't looking. Another hand-me-down. Everything he owns is a memory of someone he never knew.  
  
***  
  
He's out of bed late one night at Hogwarts, sneaking around, trying to look for anything that could link him to his parents--awards, team photos, anything. He wants to learn about them now. He wants to know the people he's made up of, so he can better know himself. He pulls out the map, making sure Filch isn't around, but he sees a pair of footprints heading his way. He inhales sharply, and reads the name. _Victoire Weasley_. He looks up to see her striding towards him, and hides the map behind his back. Her hair is blond, just like his right now.  
  
"What's that in your hand?" she asks when she gets closer.  
  
A pause. He pulls it out, shows it to her.  
  
"It belonged to my father," he says, with pride.

**Author's Note:**

> cross-posting this from my deviantart (which i...am too embarrassed to link to but i'm sure you can find it with a bit of googling) originally posted on 7/19/11. i was 18 when i wrote this...god this is old!! but i was skyping with a friend who asked to see it and i liked it enough after a reread that i decided to post it here. unedited from its original posting.
> 
> fic and title inspired by [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1BeoFuSQus) by mother mother
> 
> thanks for reading!!


End file.
